PCPhilippines Update #32

More Realistic Ratios:  It came to me in one of those early morning sleep states, you know, when we are in the delta sleep stage and connected with the universe and thoughts in ways that reflect no limitations in our reasoning or understanding.  I love that time of morning; it's when I get my most creative and empowering thoughts about my life and the world around me.

 

I'm a math guy.  I'm over here teaching English, yet at heart, I'm a math guy and feel very misplaced in an English classroom and curriculum.  I see most of how the world works through numbers.  I know Janet believes the world revolves around science yet I believe we see things through the lenses we are most comfortable with and excited about . . . so I'm a math guy.

 

The delta sleep stage thoughts were about how cheap we think everything is here in the Philippines.  Last night Alana and I went out to eat at a Filipino fast-food place and spent 137 pesos for a fairly good size and tasty meal.  That's approximately $3.18 in American terms and we would consider that a deal.  Yet, in my mid-morning sleep I started thinking about the ratios of spending to earning power.

 

I will inflate some of the numbers to favor the Philippine people to support my point.  I've heard that a regular Filipino school teacher starts out making about PhP 10,000 a month.  Many instructors I'm working along side of at the university level have been in the system for many years and are now making somewhere around PhP 16,000 a month.  I'd like to look at two examples; internet service and rent.

 

Internet service.  Alana and I pay PhP 1000 a month for internet service.  With the peso bringing 43 cents in the international exchange market, that means we are paying $23.25 a month to be able to access the internet in our home.  At first glance that seems cheap. . . to Americans.  Who wouldn't want their internet service at home to cost $23.25 a month?  Yet Filipions aren't earning the kind of money Americans are earning.

 

Let's inflate Alana and I's earning income to PhP 16,000 a month each.  As a household we would be making PhP 32,000 a month.  Internet service; 1000 divided by 32,000 (household income) = .03125, which means we would be spending 3.125% of our household income to have internet service in our home.

 

Now, in America we were also a two-income household.  Just for this little experiment, let's deflate and say we were just a one-income household making . . . I don't know . . . say $42,000 (low for many of you), which is $3,500 a month.  If we were spending 3.125% of our $3,500 for internet service we would be paying $109.37 a month to be able to access the internet!

 

For two income families making say, $80,000 to $100,000 a year, you would be spending $208 to $260 a month for internet service!  Holy hookup Batman!!  That makes an argument for stealing service from the neighbors!!!

 

Let's look at rent.  We pay PhP 8000 a month on rent.  8000 / 32000 = .25, which translates to us spending 25% of our monthly earnings (inflated in this case) on rent.

 

If we were an American, one-income family, making $42,000 a year ($3,500 a month); 3500 x .25 = 875.  $875 a month for rent, that seems reasonable, maybe a challenge for a one-income household?  I know a lot of Americans that pay $1000 a month for rent yet they are usually two income families.

 

Using the ratio equation, if a two-income family were again earning $80,000 to $100,000 a year ($6,666 to $8,333 a month), and spending 25% on rent, those numbers would be $1,666 to $2,083.  I guess that may seem reasonable for some of you too, you may be paying mortgages that high.  I'll let you decide for yourself.

 

I don't know, sometimes those brilliant ideas I'm having in my mid-morning delta sleep stage extravaganzas are not so brilliant when I become fully awake and actually put them on paper.  All I know is when I do that math on our PhP 137 Filipino fast food meal for and it ends up looking more like $179, I'm again feeling like a rich American living in the Philippines.

 

Hitting The 'Big Time':  Last week Alana and I headed out with our site counterparts (Mercy is Alana's counterpart; Ralph is Jacques' counterpart) to another island (the city of Tacloban on Northern Leyte island if you want to google earth us) for a 3-day Peace Corps Project Design Management conference.  We had fun exploring a new place, a new island, didn't enjoy the city of Tacloban as much as our home town of Dumaguete, and appreciated having time to build relationships with and work one-on-one with our counterparts away from our sites.

 

The two main points of interest in Tacloban are;

 

1. the site where MacArthur landed to end the World War II for the Philippines after a 3-year brutal Japanese regime starting with the 127km Bataan Death March that killed more than 45,000 Filipino and American soldiers.  When MacArthur had been driven out of the Philippines by a surprise Japanese attack at the start of World War II he spoke those promising, empowering words that nearly every Filipino over the age of 30 can articulate back to us, "I will return!" 

 

2. the multi-billion peso home that Imelda Marcos built (because she grew up in Tacloban) to keep all her furniture in, which she acquired from all around the world.  This home is around 27,000 square feet, built in the 1970s by Imelda, and has only been used as a museum (60 peso tours) and to host some of her dinner parties and ballroom dances.  It encompasses 20 furnished rooms, is made of extravagant wood, leather, and tile walls and floors, has two dining rooms capable of seating and feeding 20 each (didn't see the kitchens), 12 fully functioning bathrooms, chandeliers, art from all over the world, photos of all the famous people she's met in her lifetime, a 13,000 square foot ballroom, and disappointingly not one shoe.

 

After our 3-day stay in Tacloban, we headed out across Leyte to the other side of the island with our Peace Corps peer Tyler to stay for a few days with Trish and Ryan in Hilongos.  We had all trained together for 3 months in Dumaguete when we first arrived so it is fun to visit again, see each other's sites, and get to hear stories of how everyone is doing at work. Hilongos home to approximately 8,000 people (50,000 if you include the surrounding barangays) and is set up on the western coastline of Leyte island.

 

Unlike our bustling Dumaguete, Hilongos has a very big 'small town' feel; most of the public transportation is bicycles, very little traffic, pollution, litter, or noise, the public market takes up only one block, and everyone knew Trish and Ryan as they showed us around.

 

We were a 'big hit' at Trish's school site as she gave us the tour.  All the students wanted to talk with us and all the educators wanted to share what they were teaching and working on with their students.  The school is undergoing an intense eco-friendly environment facelift, has won their divisional level as the most eco-friendly school, and will be competing in the regional competition soon.  We were even invited to their canteen and treated to cokes by her site supervisor.

 

We were a 'bigger hit' at the public market.  Their public market is about 1/4th the size of the Dumaguete public market and although they all are familiar with Ryan and Trish, I think Alana & I's size was a particular point of interest to them.  Everyone was staring at us in a friendly and curious way, especially the children.  Hilongos doesn't seem to have as many foreigners visiting as Dumaguete and other places in the Philippines. 

 

We had heard that this region of Leyte was popular for Tuba, wine made from coconut juice.  I thought we could buy it in a store and didn't realize it was Filipino moonshine.  When we inquired about it at the public market to two young Filipinos who were drinking it, and wailing away on the karaoke machine, were so excited that we were interested in Tuba we ended up with about 15 Filipinos watching us trying to acquire some.  One young lady pulled us aside to warn us not to drink it straight and to cut it with coke.  There were lots of smiles, laughing, and telling friends walking by what we were doing.  The owner of the 5-gallon container poured it into a 2-liter bottle with the top cut off and then into an empty 2-liter coke bottle that they emptied and rinsed for us.  He didn't want money for the exchange and we ended up making him take 50 pesos for his kindness.  I think we actually got a round of applause when we left the market with our Tuba.  Hey, Peace Corps told us to engage in the culture!

 

I think we were the 'biggest hit' at Ryan's work.  Ryan works at the municipal hall of Hilongos.  Very new, very modern, very air-conditioned.  We got there and he introduced us to the 10+ people in his office and his counterpart Edmund.  Before we knew it, someone said we had to pay a visit to the mayor (remember that courtesy calls are important here; its not what cha know its who ya know).  I later found out from Ryan that his counterpart Edmund was worried that if the mayor found out we had visited and no one brought us up to meet him he would get in trouble.

 

They marched us up to the mayor's office.  He had about 10-12 workers in his outer office working away at their desks on their computers.  They all greeted us with smiles and friendly hellos.  Then they brought us further along to another waiting room outside of his office (big sign on the top of his door; Local Chief Executive), probably used as a meeting room, where other people were waiting to speak to the mayor.  We waited for quite a long time and a 'helper' brought us coffee (even though Alana and I told him we didn't care for coffee . . . we didn't drink it).  The mayor asked Ryan to come in before us and used him to chew out a uniformed police officer, asking Ryan about the gun laws in America.

 

We finally made it into the office of Honorable Jose F "Joy" Roble, got situated, introductions were made, and the mayor turned to Ryan and asked, "Why did you want to see me today?"  The look on Ryan's face was priceless and he stumbled through a vague, fishy explanation of why we were there, mostly just to introduce his friends, which is a perfectly legit reason to drop by to see the mayor in Filipino Town.  The mayor, in his mid-40s, nice man, preceded to tell us about things he was doing in Humongous for the people, what still needed to be addressed, and how his people think and act.  Seemed like a nice, intelligent, caring mayor to me and most likely much like our politicians had many sharp people around to fill in the gaps and take over the conversation when his phone rang.

 

After about 40 minutes of small talk and us smiling a lot, it was almost 1pm and he claimed that he was hungry and invited us to lunch.  In the infamous words of my counterpart Ralph, "What were we to do?"  We slowly wandered out of the office building, where out front was waiting his spankin' new Honda truck for himself and about 10 other workers (mostly his high school friends and family), and a van for us.  They piled in the truck, 7 of piled into the van, and we went to a quaint Filipino deck restaurant over the water next to the Hilongos pier and ate a traditional Filipino lunch.  They were excited to see the mayor and his entourage show up, we ate tons of rice, the floor was made of bamboo strips, and we would see the waves crashing on shore beneath our feet.  Of course the mayor picked up the whole tab for the 17+ of us (seems like there were 5 or 6 city officials waiting for us) and we had some great conversations about their culture, our culture, travel, family, and history.

 

We really didn't plan to spend 4 hours of our day with the mayor, going through all the courtesies, making small talk in English & Cebuano, and minding our Ps and Qs (because it's not a good idea to get too deep into any political or philosophical conversation with a Filipino . . . especially the mayor).  In the end, it wasn't too bad, except for the fact that I was nursing a stomachache.

 

While saying our final goodbyes the mayor told us to have the van bring us wherever we wanted to go and that he was going to pay for our 4 hour ship ride back to Cebu City on our way home to Dumaguete when we left Hilongos. Come to find out, the mayor owns the shipping line of cargo and passenger boats coming and going from Hilongos, the only gas station in town, half of the Hilongos airport, which he is developing, and the nicest house in town.  The guy is quite a businessman, busy, loaded, and very generous.  Just like in South Louisiana, I guess its good to know someone who knows the mayor.

PCPhilippines Update #31

RainRoom:  The rain is nice here.  It is the kind of rain I remember growing up in Louisiana, when we could go outside and play in it because the rain was warm and the air temperature was still over 80 degrees.  Mama took many pictures of us stopping up and playing in the ditches.  When we got older we would water ski in the rain filled ditches with the rope hitched to my cousin Charles' jeep in the road.  It has been raining a lot in the past month (rainy season) and is raining right now as I type.  Very soothing sound, especially because most roofs in the Philippines are made of metal.

The rain here really cools everything down.  It is peculiar to see the Filipino people putting on jackets and ski-type hats when the temperature dips below 82 degrees and it is raining.  They really don't know what cold is.  I was introducing new words to my Eng121: Effective Speech classes a few weeks ago and they didn't have a clue what "parka" or "shiver" meant.  I jokingly told them, "You don't have those in the Philippines."

Another cultural phenomena Alana and I have just started to understand is the Filipino's insistence that we will get sick if we get wet.  Filipinos seem to go to great lengths to stay out of the rain and stay dry.  They also kinda freak when they see Alana and I walking in the rain.  I love to walk in the drizzly; it cools me down (and I get a second rinse on my clothes that I'm still not so good at washing in the buckets outside).

When we do walk, even for a few hundred yards, in the drizzle or rain, our counterparts and fellow workers are often upset with us, insisting that we will get sick.  For months we wondered what that was about.  Our theory was that because Filipino people don't eat as well as we do and don't experience the changes in temperatures that we do their immune systems might be more fragile.  Alana and I believe we have very strong immune systems and are not often sick.

Then I heard a conversation in my office that didn't involve me and addressed the subject a bit more.  It appears that even the simplest medicines that Americans at times may take for granted like cough syrup, aspirin, cold medicine, antibiotics, etc., are expensive and difficult to attain here.  Most elder Filipinos grew up without much access to medicine at all unless they were dying.  So for many Filipinos, if they walk in the rain there is a good chance they will get sick . . . and that could lead to death in some cases . . . at least that has been their experience.

Alana and I love the rain at night.  Nighttime is when things really cool down and we often run our fan to keep our room cool so we can sleep well.  We have a door that goes out to our little balcony yet bugs fly into the room because it doesn't have a screen on it.  When it is raining, the bugs aren't flying, and it is nice to open the door and let the cool air in and sleep to the sounds of the rain on the land and houses outside.

About a month ago, there was a big storm, lots of lightning and thunder, big raindrops, and lots of rain.  We opened the door for a little while then the wind started pushing the rain into the room so we closed it.  About 5am Alana got up to use the bathroom and when she put her feet on the floor there was an inch of water in our room!  Emergency!!! Emergency!!!  Danger Will Robinson!!!

I thought the water might be coming from the balcony and when I looked it was rushing through the 1/2 crack under the door.  How could this be happening?  I had just woke and was kinda disoriented.  I took a broom and started shoveling the water back onto the balcony as Alana was shoveling the water in the room from the hall!  Our room was completely drenched, the water had moved into the hall, into the room next door a bit, and was now running down the stairs into the downstairs.  Good thing carpet is not popular here, all the floors are tiled, and the walls are built with cement blocks instead of wood and drywall.

 

In my disorientation I started to wonder where the water would go because there was a 3-inch lip all along the balcony  and the wind and rain had been filling it up like a bowl.  It was still raining hard as I worked to shovel the water over the lip in the balcony and it took me about 10 minutes to realize there was a drain in the back corner that was clogged.  I unclogged it, we swept as much water as we could outside, then mopped up the rest of the room, the hall, and the stairs.  It was quite an adventure for 5am.  Good too because our room floor needed mopping anyway.

So rain . . . it seems to be a good thing here . . . as long as your drains are not clogged.

Guitar/Ukulele:  Did I forget to tell you that we added two members to our little instrument collection?  Alana and I are wanting to stay sharp in our stringed artistry so we can pick up where we left off with the Lackey family bluegrass folk band Farmer's Daughters.

If you haven't heard of us, we are a Fort Collins based band with the daughters; Alana on mandolin & vocals,Bronwen (Alana's eldest sister) on fiddle and vocals, Galynn (Alana's youngest sister) on lead vocals and guitar, Joe(Alana's father and "the farmer") on guitar and lead vocals, Jacques (Alana's husband) on bass and vocals, andUncle Don (honorary Lackey Uncle) on banjo and vocals.  So yeah, it's pretty much centered around Alana, which is great because she is such an equalizer between quirky, pungent, eccentric personalities :-)  We all pretty much play instruments, we all pretty much sing at some point, and it's pretty much a blast!

We heard that the best place to acquire Filipino made guitars is in a little city called Lapu-Lapu, on a little island Mactan, off a big island Cebu, which is right next door to our island Negros.  There is a street in Lapu-Lapu that is about a kilometer long and has about 8 guitar stores on it.  Come to find out, they are all cousins, aunts, and uncles, and they come from a guitar making family.

So we made a trip over to Cebu City for a courtesy call, to visit two of our CYF Peace Corps friends that Alana trained with, and to get to Lapu-Lapu to acquire a guitar.  The big day arrived, it took us an hour, two jeepney rides, and a trik to get to the infamous guitar lane from Cebu City, and to tell you the truth . . . I was a bit nervous and intimidated.  It has been a long time since I've purchased a guitar.  These aren't Taylors or Martins so I'm not familiar with how they are made or what they can sound like.  I wanted a nice sounding and playing guitar yet we didn't have a ton of pesos to spend and I don't know squat about quality guitar making.

We took our time at first.  Alana let me lead the process and we talked and processed everything we did.  We went into all 8 stores and just looked and inquired about the guitars; what are they made of, who makes them, where are they made, etc.  There were guitars priced from PhP 3000 ($60) to PhP 50,000 ($1000) and we after a few hours of inquiries we hadn't played one of them.  Our budget was PhP 7000 ($140) and we were willing to stretch it to PhP 10,000 ($200) if we found the right guitar that we had to have.

After round one, we eliminated 4 of the 8 stores.  We went to the other 4 stores and played some of the guitars to see how they sounded.  I was pretty set on getting a classical guitar with nylon strings because I've never had one and love the way they sound.  The whole time we were scouting we continued to look at and price ukuleles too.  The song I kept playing so Alana had something consistent to compare the sounds of the different guitars to as we went from store to store was "Tears In Heaven" by Eric Clapton because he played that song on his live 1992 Unplugged album with a classical, nylon stringed guitar.

After round two, we got something quick to eat and processed, processed, processed.  I wanted to get out everything I was thinking and leave no thought unturned so we would leave with the best deal we could and be happy with our find.  Almost drove Alana nutty and she is an angel and hung in there with me.

Round three got us down to two guitars on complete opposite ends of guitar lane, about a kilometer away from each other.  We went to the one store and played this beautiful guitar they wanted PhP 7000 for, perfect for our price range.  There was also a nice little ukulele there we would try to get them to throw in for a few pesos more.

We went to the second store and played this guitar that wasn't made very well and sounded and played nicely.  They wanted PhP 6000 for the guitar and there was a ukulele we had out eye on for PhP 1000.  We offered the owner PhP 5500 for both.  He thought for a second and then said, "6000."  We muttered something to each other in Cebuano and he said, "Oh, you know our language?  Okay, 5500."  We told him we would think about it and headed back to the first store.

The first store had much better quality guitars and we were really liking the look, sound, and feel of the PhP 7000 guitar they had and a nice quality ukulele for another PhP 2800 we were eyeing.  I did the math, took 30% off, and offered the lady, apparently the owner, PhP 6800 for the guitar and the uke.  It was the weirdest thing; she stared off into space for a minute like she was thinking about it and doing the math in her head so I played another song. When I was finished I said again, "6800?" and she barely nodded to me and went off to do the paperwork.

So we got a Filipino made classical nylon stringed guitar and a Filipino made ukulele (pics attached).  We haven't named them yet and have enjoyed playing them so far.  Alana also has her mandolin here so we are going to be working on our own duets so maybe we can open up for Farmer's Daughters.  I sure hope our other 8 guitars we have in Colorado welcome these two into the family when we take them home.

 

 

American Fast Food:  Don't worry folks, American fast food companies are not discriminatory towards foreigners, they are willing to take lives in any country.

Consent?:  It is interesting to me how often students at NORSU are asked for money.  I still have issues with the way it appears money is allocated by authority; the leaders seem to have all the air conditioning, lunches, assess to budget for whatever fancies them, and amenities that I guess leaders truly deserve while the paint is coming off of classroom walls, the fans (and often electricity) in the rooms are broken, instructing materials and even paper used for tests are expected to be provided by instructors or students, and even the custodians are paid for by the student body.  Haven't been keeping up with American news too much and does this sound like our congress?

Sure, there is a brand new, 200 computer, lab that opened on the fourth floor of the CAS building (the room of course, complete with plaque, being named after the university president), and I buy my own chalk, board erasers, paper posters, and pay for anything copied to be able to teach with.  Confusing.

Back to the custodians.  I found out that the third floor of the CAS building, where we facilitate all of the English classes, is basically taken care of by the English Department.  How do they do this?  They have arranged to have students do the work and students pay for it.  The English Department apparently hires students to come in at night and on the weekends to sweep the rooms, wipe the chalkboards, buff the floors, and make sure the lights and fans are off.  Good opportunity for students wanting to make a few pesos on the side.

Below is the STATEMENT OF CONSENT, which is passed around with a box for pesos and signed every semester by every student taking an English class.  If, by chance, someone is taking two English classes, they are expected to pay and sign twice.

When I first experienced Ralph sheepishly passing around a box for pesos and the sheet for signing he seemed uncomfortable like it wasn't his idea and he was doing it because he had to.  He even mentioned to our students that the student body, whom he was actually in part talking to, asked him to do this thing.  My question is, "Who really created this system; the English and Literature Department Cleanliness Campaign?"  On the surface it appears that student did and I haven't experienced them to be that assertive, industrial, innovative, or motivated to keep things clean and well-maintained or even lead.  They more seem to keep quiet until they are told to do otherwise by authority.  I'll leave you to your own opinion.

Republic of the Philippines

Negros Oriental State University

Main Campus I, Dumaguete City

English and Literature Department

STATEMENT OF CONSENT

We the students of Negros Oriental State University, believe that it is important to maintain the cleanliness of the classrooms and hallway;

We also realize that it is our obligation to keep the rooms clean and free of liters; especially in the 3rd floor of the College of Arts Building;

Therefore, we, the university students currently enrolled in an English subject/subjects would like to signify our consent to contribute a minimum amount of TEN PESOS (Php 10.00) for the maintenance of the cleanliness of the classrooms, for the procurement of floor wax, garbage bags, and for the honoraria of the student-volunteers who would do the tasks of cleaning and keeping the floors in the classrooms and hallway shiny.

We further agree that the said amount shall be collected by a class treasurer.  Moreover, the amount we contribute shall be our semestral share for the English and Literature Department Cleanliness Campaign.

We then signify our consent by affixing our signatures.

1.__________________________

2.__________________________

etc.

InHarmony,

- Jaco

J Jacques Fournet II

Peace Corps Volunteer

Philippines Batch 269

Daro, Dumaguete City

Negros Oriental

NORSU

PCPhilippines Update #30

New Neighbors:  We had two boys move into the tree next door.  Huh?  Yep.  We have a tree in the empty grass lot next door.  I was walking home from school last week when I heard voices from the tree.  I looked up and saw two teenaged boys up there.  They looked like they had moved in.

They had beds made of potato sacks, expertly tied up at the ends to branches with rope.  They situated their beds approximately 12 and 15 feet above the ground, which is pretty smart because most bugs don't operate at those heights.  All they had for possessions was a radio with two sets of earphones.  They were there on Monday all during the day so I'm assuming they aren't in school.  They were there Tuesday morning and I didn't get their names when I took pictures of them on Tuesday at lunch.  They have not been there during the late afternoon or early evening and we wonder what they are out doing in the community then.

They are situated so they can see right into our back yard and into Alana's changing and work out room.  I've been trying to keep track of when they are around and not just so we don't unintentionally invite them to do something unwarranted to our place.  Sad that I'm thinking that and I am.  People have really gone to a lot of effort us to warn us about safety and security here in Dumaguete City.  We find our community pretty safe from theft and incidents.  We are cautious to not leave our apartment unlocked when we are gone or things out that people might take.  It's a little unsettling that they can see us come and go and I often leave things outside in the back to air out or dry.

I remember how much fun we had growing up in Fournetville in Lafayette, Louisiana.  There were 22 of my first cousins living in our neighborhood.  We had many tree houses and would hang out in trees all the time, watching people go by, eating food from our gardens, getting up as high as we could, figuring out how to get from tree to tree, building little places to sit and lay down.  It was fun.

Alana and I are wondering if the tree next door is just a place for the boys to sit and they actually live somewhere else.  We saw two different boys leaving that lot a few days later and Alana asked them in Cebuano if they lived there.  They answered in Cebuano that they just sat up there.  So we're not yet sure what's up.  Get it . . . what's up?  Time will tell.

Filipino Sucker.  They say there's a sucker born every minute.  Well, I feel like I've been a sucker before and . . . I was born again today.

I had just left NORSU.  There are lots of students every day who say, "Hello Sir Jacques." and I cheerfully respond with a, "Maayong buntag pud" or "Maayong udto" or "Maayong hapon pud"depending on the time of day.  Alana often tells me that LCP kids come back to the LCP campus and mention they saw me that day.  Alana encourages them to talk to me and let me know they are from LCP yet none have taken her up on the dare yet, I must be scary :-)

Today, when I was leaving the gates of campus, a young lady student turned and said, "Hello sir."  I said hello back in her language and wondered again if she was an LCP student.  I walked along thinking that I want to start being assertive and ask students if they are from LCP when they see me outside of class and take the time and effort to acknowledge me.

Just as I was thinking that on my walk, a young lady from about 30 yards away at an intersection on a road behind the Dumaguete Track & Field Complex put a big smile on her face and got excited when she saw me.  I thought it might be an LCP student as she reeled me in by hopping up and down a bit with excitement and talking to me (even though I couldn't understand just yet what she was saying).  I hadn't noticed who she was standing with and as she sucked me into the fold with her smile and excitement. I then realized I was with her mother, her grandmother, her younger brother of about age 8, and the mother was holding an infant. 

I thought they might be an LCP family.  I had been introduced to the community of about 800 people at a church service earlier this month.  After that I ran into families in the streets and markets that would say they remembered me from LCP.  At this point I still didn't know who this family was or understand what was going on or what they were saying.  I just smiled.  They kept shoving papers in my face, saying, "Medicine.  Admit to the hospital.  Hungry." while rubbing their bellies.  Time out!

Jufer is an amazing Peace Corps trainer that works with the Peace Corps' CYFs, of which Alana is one.  CYF stands for Child, Youth, Family.   CYFs are volunteers that have counseling skills or backgrounds and work with the street children and the poorest of poor families.  Jufer is highly regarded as one of the most authentic and empowering trainers the Peace Corps Philippines has.  He told Alana's group (who told me) not to give money to the street children or families because when they can make even the smallest living on the street begging they are not encouraged to look into the assistance they can get from many private and public services like LCP or DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development).

Word is; many street people don't like services they have to participate in and contribute their time and efforts to in order to get help and assistance.  It makes sense that it's easier to just beg for money on the street.  They don't want to enroll their children in school.  They don't want to learn a craft or trade.  They don't want to work or answer to anyone for anything.  They just want money.  Alana learned that street kids, after they've bought ice cream, spend their hard earned street pesos in internet cafes on FACEBOOK!  These dirt poor children can often skillfully maneuver themselves through their Facebook accounts yet don't own shoes, they don't have a means to stay clean, and they can't multiply, use spell a word, or point out Asia on a map!

Back to my becoming a sucker for this Filipino street family.  They looked nice enough, weren't as dirty as street families I'd seen in the past, yet they were definitely after me to take care of them.  I have been conscious about seeing these situations coming from far off and think I've handled them well; I look people in the eye, I smile, I often touch them on the hands or head, I do not engage in conversation with them, I do not stop, and I do not give them money!  I keep in mind what Jufer said, "Help them hit rock bottom so they will take advantage of the Filipino systems set up to help them."  Makes sense to me.

I was taken by surprise, must have been in shock, and it all happened so fast.  The daughter, mother, and grandmother were all talking to me at once.  They had suckered me into their little circle and before I knew it I was reaching into my pocket.  No sooner had I reached into my pocket and the INFANT put out his little beggar hand to receive whatever it was I was reaching for.  How sad, he couldn't have been more than 6 months old yet he already knew how to beg. He probably begs more than he plays (or maybe he was the ringleader in disguise, maybe as I walked away he stoked up a cigar and bullied the women for the goods to divvy up as he saw fit).

I gave them everything I had, about 20 pesos.  As I had became more aware of what was happening, I smiled and walked away.  In hindsight, I wish I would have had the with-it-ness to act like I was going to help in some big way and walked them to the DSWD office, which was about 50 yards down the street.  What a great learning experience.  I'll definitely be more prepared next time.

Hey, update on the tree boys.  Their beds are still up there and they haven't been around now for about 4-5 days.  They must have a time share in other barangays (bar-ang-guy-s)